Even Shanyao himself later felt a little embarrassed that this was not a wonderful battle, but it did defeat the coalition's attempt to regain control of the edge of the dense forest area. Due to the rush, no joint force was formed. , the coalition forces did not take advantage of their numerical advantage, but they never thought that if they lost this opportunity, they would forever lose the chance to win back the game.
Taking advantage of the opportunity of defeating the coalition forces, Shanyao immediately dug trenches and built fortifications, hoping to delay it for one more day. Now he had no idea where the engineering troops would open the road. He could only do his best to open the road. The longer this war drags on, the better.
The armies of the three coastal city-states arrived very quickly. Obviously the governors of these cities were very clear-headed. Once Li Wufeng's army swept in, the Peninsula Alliance, a fragile alliance, had the greedy Pasha Kingdom in the west, which was constantly devouring the land. , a powerful enemy with greater appetite and ambition than the Pasha people has been added to the east. Anyone can imagine that the survival of the Peninsula Alliance is already facing a huge test. Therefore, they had to do their best to help. If the Tanghe people could be firmly sealed to the north of the dense forest area, the danger of the Peninsula Alliance would be much less. Once they break through the dense forest area, especially if they stand firm in the Principality of Sulawesi Feet, the entire Eastern countries of the semi-major alliance will never have peace.
The Moro City Republic, the Eastern Samoa City Republic, and the Sanbao City-State each sent 25,000 troops. Among them, the three-city self-defense force numbered 60,000, and the mercenary force also reached 15,000. It can be said that they are all in full force. After leaving, the three cities mobilized almost all available means of transportation, so they arrived only two days later than the arrival of the Lygon City State army, and arrived at Yada City at the same time as the 6,000 troops from the Principality of Balia. The coalition forces, which have figured out the actual strength of the enemy, quickly gathered together and prepared to completely defeat the Western Xinjiang Army, which had built temporary fortifications in the southern part of the dense forest area and prepared for a protracted war. With a strong military strength, facing the Western Xinjiang Army with only more than 20,000 people, no one can predict the outcome of this battle without any suspense. No matter how powerful his Western Xinjiang army is, no matter how brave his Gaoyue soldiers are, but with one against five, this huge disparity in strength cannot be made up with blood and courage.
Shan Yao also expected this. He had a feeling that the Fourth Army should also rush out of the dense forest area in these two days, but the question was whether he could hold on for these two days. Fortifications and trenches had been laid along the defense line. Three echelons were built layer by layer. Shan Yao knew that this was a battle that would determine the life and death of his division and even the entire Southern Expedition. If the third division could withstand the opponent's attack and persist until the arrival of the fourth army, Everything will clear up, and once it is lost, the entire northern edge of the dense forest will be occupied by the coalition forces. When the Fourth Army breaks out of the dense forest, it will only be faced with layers of defensive enemy forces. The exhausted Fourth Army cannot deploy. Our own army can only be strangled to death by the enemy in the dense forest. Being able to retreat to Burma is already a luxury.
The coalition forces are also aware of the urgency of completely dealing with this force lying in front of them as soon as possible. It is obvious that the Tanghe people are already taking measures to pass through the dense forest area, and this force that emerged from the Great Hengduan Mountains is firmly here to replace them. The main force has won a base area for rest and respite, which the coalition forces will never tolerate. Once the opponent succeeds, the consequences can be imagined. The swarming Western Xinjiang armies will crush the entire peninsula alliance countries. So they have to nip this possibility in the bud.
Dama, the commander of the Sulawesi royal city garrison, was immediately pulled from the position of commander of the coalition forces. In fact, due to the badness of the first battle, everyone in the coalition knew that Sulawesi Marshal Shiloh died. I am afraid that there will no longer be a general who can sustain the overall situation. General Sumu of the Moro City Republic replaced Dama as the commander-in-chief of the coalition forces. The 120,000-strong army was divided into three waves and took turns to charge towards the third division that held its position.
Since both sides had no cavalry, and elephant soldiers began to arrive one after another, although the deep trenches dug by the Third Division in the early stage did not hinder the infantry charge much, they had a great impact on the march of the elephant soldiers, and the soldiers had to Jump off the trench and fill it up first to make it easier for the elephants to pass. However, once this kind of mobile fortress passes through the ravine area, it will pose a great threat to the defensive troops in the square formation. The coalition forces are also aware of this, so they let the storm go. Like javelins were poured on the soldiers' heads, but they still filled the trench firmly and step by step. Once the trench was completely filled, with hundreds of giant elephants and the coalition soldiers sitting on the giant elephants beating the drums, no matter what they did, No matter how powerful the infantry phalanx of Gaoyue soldiers was, they could not withstand the attack from the giant elephant. The coalition generals could even imagine that these enemies would be scattered and bloody under the hooves of the giant elephant.
However, the coalition generals may have forgotten one thing. Since this enemy force knew that the elephant soldiers were a special unit of the Peninsula Alliance and the ordinary infantry defense line could not withstand the charge of this unit, why did they still dare to deploy the next half-arc here? The people of Xijiang never fight an unprepared battle, which they seem to have ignored. It's just that in this situation, almost no one would have thought of this. They all hoped that they could break through the opponent's defense line with the help of elephant soldiers, and then the 100,000 troops that followed could wipe out this lonely Western Xinjiang army without any effort. Annihilation.
It should be said that the commander-in-chief of the coalition forces, Su Mu, is a very cautious and clear-headed general. He is well aware of the bravery and tyranny of the Gaoyue soldiers. If the coalition soldiers want to use their own front to defeat the Gaoyue people's defensive formation, they will pay a heavy price. Since With the trump card of the Elephant Soldier, it will naturally be used against Gao Yue soldiers. The coalition soldiers only need to follow the Elephant Soldier and wait for the Elephant Soldier to clear the enemy's defense line before easily picking up the fallen peaches. . On the surface, there is nothing wrong with this plan, and it has been unanimously agreed by other coalition officers. They all hope to let the invaders from the north experience the unique tactics of Indochina, but they underestimate the enemy's cunning and Brutal.
When the enemy infantry soldiers frantically opened the way for the tall and mighty elephants regardless of casualties, Shan Yao knew it was time to use his trump card. These giant elephants had thick skin and thick flesh, and they were all covered with thick armor on their vital parts. Apart from the two eyes, there are almost no weaknesses. It is undoubtedly unrealistic to kill the eyes of a giant elephant on the battlefield. And the ordinary parts, whether it is a bow and arrow or a spear, are equivalent to the thorns scratching the skin of an adult. It is difficult to work. Even if the elephant can be poisoned immediately with highly toxic poison, I am afraid that the more than 100,000 troops that will follow will also submerge his position, but it all seems to be within the plan.
When the enemy spearmen on the opposite side carefully replaced them with small spears, the coalition soldiers who followed the elephant soldiers were very happy. They saw that the trenches were filled with flat ground, leaving only the last few deeper trenches. The coalition soldiers who have become accustomed to this kind of trench filling operation have become more and more skilled. Thousands of soldiers are working at the same time, and it takes almost no more than ten minutes for a trench to be completely filled. They all carefully covered their bodies with large shields, while the elephants were calmly waiting for the moment when the ditch was filled up under the command of the servants on their backs.
Wave after wave of spears were thrown at the giant elephant. This time, the Western Xinjiang Army seemed to have changed their tactics. They no longer targeted the soldiers hiding behind the giant elephant and slowly advancing, but directly attacked the giant elephant itself. But like this What damage can a small throwing spear do to a behemoth like a giant elephant? After learning about this situation, the allied generals who were guarding the formation all laughed at the Tanghe people's stupidity and poor skills. Perhaps the Tanghe people had reached a point of desperation, and they could only make a crazy desperate move.
The coalition generals who thought they had noticed this change ordered all armies to form formations and move forward steadily. Once the giant elephant troops broke through the enemy's defense circle, they could completely bury the enemy. Only Su Mu, the commander-in-chief of the coalition forces, noticed something fishy in this. Under such circumstances, the enemy still stubbornly persisted in position defense. Although he hoped to hold on to a base area, he was still facing the fall of the position and the entire army would be trapped in the surrounding environment. In this way, this made Su Mu miss the intelligence of the opponent's general. Either the opponent's general was determined to die, or the opponent had another conspiracy. Otherwise, with the Gaoyue people's marching speed, they could break out of the encirclement before the coalition forces encircled them. Although they lost Although they have control over the edge areas of the dense forest, they have at least preserved their strength and can also use the tenacious fighting power of Gaoyue soldiers to move to the Hengduan Mountains in the west to continue fighting against the coalition forces.
But at this moment, although he had doubts in his heart, he could not think of any incredible power that the other party had to reverse the current situation. Although he felt a little uneasy, as a coach, he could only use reason rather than intuition to make decisions. It was decided that all the coalition forces divided into three parts were assembled according to the attack echelon. No matter how tenacious and fierce the Gaoyue people were, the huge gap in strength would completely send them into the area. Su Mu firmly believed this, and no one could change it at this time. this situation.
But everything that follows will be like a nightmare haunting all the coalition generals who participated in this battle. No one can believe their eyes, they cannot believe what is happening in front of them.
"This is a nightmare that I never want to recall again! Only the devil can perform such maddening magic!" Excerpted from "History of the Peninsular War - Sumu Memoirs".